A quick update - my revised signature pretty much says it all. My surgeries went well, and I'm recovering nicely. My surgeon turned out to be great personally as well professionally. I think we were both having bad days at our prior meeting. The bot tumor was removed with clear margins and all 92 nodes removed in my neck dissection were clear of cancer. There was swelling and inflammation present of unknown origin which is what caused the PET scan to "light up". They tested for fungal and other organisms with negative results and believe it may be related to my graft-versus-host disease. I'll follow up with my transplant doc for that. My case was reviewed again this morning by the tumor board, and they were all in agreement that I don't need chemo or radiation. This was what we were hoping for, walking the fine line between curing the tongue cancer and relapsing the blood cancer. I have my 2-year bone marrow biopsy 12/6/12 and am hoping for more good news on that front! I'll have a follow-up MRI in 2-1/2 months for my base of tongue.

Thanks to everyone who provided input and support!

Karen